Zippers and other zip fasteners are commonly used for joining together edges of two pieces of material. They may be used to provide a closeable slit in a unit or may be used to join two separate pieces of material. They are widely used in the clothing industry as well as other industries, with almost any type of material.
A conventional zipper or zip fastener is comprised of two support tapes; two rows of coupling elements, each row being attached to its own support tape; and a slider element comprised of a puller attachment used to open or close the zip fastener.
Typically, when a conventional zip fastener is closed, there are slits between each coupling element. In addition, there is always a small opening at the distal end of the zip fastener where the width of the slider prevents the coupling elements at the distal end from locking together. When a conventional zip fastener is exposed to water, the water tends to collect around the zip fastener permitting water to seep through the coupling elements or the opening at the distal end of the zip fastener.
In addition, in a conventional zip fastener, when the slider unites the coupling elements, the puller and top part of the slider body are clearly visible. Unless the zip fastener is designed as a decoration for an article, the zip fastener tends to disrupt the smoothness of the article's surface making it unpleasing to the eye.
A tunnel, sometimes referred to as a garage, is created in an attempt to cover the opening at the distal end of the zip fastener as well as to hide the puller and the slider body. However, creating a tunnel or a garage is time consuming and/or undesirable in some cases and does not effectively reduce the problem of water seeping through the coupling elements. Therefore, there is a need for an improved zip fastener that further reduces the aforementioned problems and disadvantages of the conventional zip fastener. 